During the silent era, Ivor Novello was an immensely popular matinee idol and one of the most handsome men in British theater.  Ivor was charming, graceful and gallant, with raven locks, large, luminous eyes and a profile to rival John Barrymore's.  According to writer/composer Sandy Wilson, Ivor's dark, youthful good looks epitomized the romantic ideals of his age: the Latin Lover, the Gypsy Vagabond and the Byronic aristocrat.  

     Ivor Novello was the heir to the cinematic throne left vacant by Rudolph Valentino.  He has been variously described in print as "the British Adonis", the "Valentino of England" and "The Welsh Genius".  Yet he was so modest and self-effacing that he refused to take any of these titles seriously.  But if anyone deserved these appellations, it was Ivor.  To this litany one could add that Ivor Novello was the "Last Great Romantic" of the stage and of the screen.  With just a glance he could set hearts a-flutter.  His gracious smile, yearning gaze, and flashing eyes were irresistible to his legions of fans. Like Valentino before him, Ivor was so convincing as a screen lover because he really believed in the concepts of romance, chivalry and glamour.   He was an unabashed Romantic and an unrepentant sentimentalist.  He was a dreamer who chose to live in a world apart from the everyday banal existence that most of us call life. His vivid, artistic portrayals provided movie-goers with a glimpse of another realm - one of poetry, imagination and emotion.

     Ivor Novello was born David Ivor Davies, in Cardiff, Wales, on January 15, 1893, the only son of Madame Clara Novello Davies (she was named after an Italian diva) from whom he took his stage name. His beloved "Mam" was a celebrated singing instructor and had a great influence on her son's life and career. Though he achieved fame at an early age, Ivor remained a good-natured, sincere, generous, warm-hearted and caring person throughout his life.

     Those who knew him and worked with him have affectionately attested to his many good qualities, which are evident in his screen persona as well. Said Peter Noble, in his book Ivor Novello, Man of the Theatre, "Even those other playwrights, actors and composers who were inclined to be jealous of his continued successes, could not but agree that he was a most charming and kindly man."  Noel Coward, Ivor's friend and rival for thirty-five years, stated in the foreword of the above mentioned book that "His death will be a personal loss to many millions of people...For those who loved him there is no consolation except the memory of his charm, his humour and his loving generosity."

     In his tender love scenes with Mae Marsh, in The White Rose (1923) and even in his most brooding, macabre role as a suspected serial killer in the Hitchcock thriller, The Lodger (1926), Ivor comes across as a kinder, gentler movie star. His retiring, yet congenial manner, his fluid grace and sensitivity make him both highly sympathetic and deeply mysterious.  

     Before becoming a dazzling star of the silent screen, Ivor was first and foremost a composer. Ivor received musical training at the Magdalen College Choir School, at Oxford, where he was a superior boy soprano. He has his first song published in 1910, at the age of seventeen, and went on to write many successful numbers for musical comedies and revues in London. In 1914 he composed the most popular song of World War I, Keep the Home Fires Burning, which made him famous, literally overnight. After entertaining the troops in war-torn France, in 1916 Ivor became a pilot in the Royal Naval Air Service and survived two crash landings. He continued to compose whenever he had the chance.

     In 1919 Ivor embarked on his career as a film actor when French director Louis Mercanton was in London looking for a leading man for his new film, Call of the Blood. Upon seeing a photograph of the devastatingly handsome youth, Mercanton exclaimed, "That's the actor I want!" It didn't matter to him that Ivor was actually a composer, not an actor. The film, a tale of adultery and revenge, set in Sicily, was a success, largely due to Ivor's sympathetic portrayal of the erring husband. Critics of the day called the film romantic and thrilling while accurately predicted stardom for young Ivor.

     Ivor's first English film was Carnival (1921), based on a story similar to the much later Ronald Colman film, A Double Life, about an actor playing Othello whose jealousy drives him to act out the play in real life. Ivor played the lover with such unrestrained ardor that his scenes with scantily-clad costar Hilda Bayley had to be re-edited. His performance was called "a great achievement" and audiences were enthusiastic.

     The following year Ivor starred in The Bohemian Girl (1922) with Gladys Cooper, the lovely actress with whom he would be romantically linked by the press.  Though Ivor never married, without a doubt he had a romantic and affectionate attitude towards women. The charismatic star won the hearts of millions of adoring, passionate fans. He was in essence the first British male sex symbol, while retaining an aura of class and refinement.

     Adrian Brunel, whose best work was in silent films, directed Ivor in several pictures including one with the intriguing title The Man Without Desire (1923). This imaginative story concerns an eighteenth-century Venetian aristocrat who is put into a state of suspended animation for 200 years, whereupon his revival he is rendered impotent. As one would expect, this theme was a problem for the censors of the day, but this visually beautiful film, with its lavish costumes and sets, is considered as a landmark in the history of British cinema.

     By this time Ivor, who somewhat resembled Richard Barthelmess and Ramon Navarro, had caught the attention of the master director D. W. Griffith and was cast opposite Mae Marsh in The White Rose (1923). Ivor was lauded by the American press as the handsomest man in England and a sincere actor with a pleasing personality. The film resembles Way Down East (1920) in its beautiful soft focus photography and its themes of seduction, abandonment and ultimate redemption through love. Ivor's role of an aristocratic Southern minister who deflowers a flirtatious but naive orphan girl is unique in that the fallen man suffers as much as the woman he wrongs.

     The Rat (1925), an adaptation of Ivor's own play written in collaboration with Constance Collier, is a blatantly commercial melodrama, but a thoroughly enjoyable film. Ivor is perfectly cast as a Valentino-style, apache seducer and Mae Marsh plays his long-suffering girl. Roy Armes, author of A Critical History of British Cinema, states that this film shows Jack Graham Cutts (who was overshadowed by his former assistant, Alfred Hitchcock) at the height of his powers as a director. The Rat, the first of ten films Ivor made for Gainsborough Pictures, was enormously successful and inspired two sequels: The Triumph of the Rat (1926) and The Return of the Rat (1928).

     The Lodger (1926) was the first picture in which director Alfred Hitchcock exercised his true style. Some exquisite footage of Novello in the mysterious title role can be seen at the beginning of Part 5 of the excellent six-part documentary by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood, which was recently shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). There are also some rare clips of Ivor with Mabel Poulton from The Constant Nymph, which was voted the best film of 1928.

     Downhill (1927) was Ivor's second collaboration with Hitchcock, based on another Novello/Collier play written under the joint pseudonym David L'Estrange. It is the story of a pact of loyalty between two school boys and the moral decline (hence the title) experienced by the innocent youth (played by Ivor at the ripe age of 34!) who takes the blame for his friend's offense (getting a girl pregnant). Hitchcock historian Donald Spoto, in his book The Art of Alfred Hitchcock, claims, "Technically, the picture is superior to just about anything made in England that year."

     Ivor Novello made 16 silent films in all and several early talkies. He reprised his role from The Lodger in the sound remake, The Phantom Fiend (1932), only in this version his character has mellowed and been changed to that of a Bosnian composer visiting London.

     Ivor's greatest asset beside his beautiful chiseled features were his limpid and expressive eyes. They could convey the depths of melancholy or shimmer with ebullience. Ivor's looks and temperament made him ideal for romantic roles, but he also had a keen, if somewhat boyish, sense of humor. I Lived With You (1933) is a highly original, whimsical comedy based on Ivor's own successful stage play about an exiled Russian prince who comes to live with a staid middle class English family. This film is a tour de force for Ivor in which he deftly manages to be both funny and romantic at the same time.

     Besides being extremely talented himself, Ivor had an eye for talent and helped many others to achieve success. He is credited for suggesting Vivien Leigh's stage name (her original name was Vivian Hartley). Among his many varied accomplishments, he co-scripted Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) and is responsible for the famous, though misquoted, line, "Me, Tarzan - You, Jane!" (The actual exchange was sans the pronouns.)

     Those fortunate enough to have seen him in person proclaim that Ivor had an electrifying stage presence. Jim Bernard, of Allentown, PA, a longtime Ivor fan and purveyor of British film classics on video has recollected, "Many years ago I spoke to some people who had seen him many times on stage, and they said he never approached on film the electricity, personality and presence he emanated 'in person'." He wrote 14 plays and appeared in 24, including Shakespeare's Henry V. Though he had a fine voice and considerable acting talent, Ivor's film career was cut short because it interfered with what he loved best - composing lush, romantic and sentimental musicals. He wrote dreamy waltzes in a style that evokes Lehar, Friml and Victor Herbert, but he also wrote catchy popular tunes in the vein of Noel Coward.  During the 1930's and 1940's he was the Andrew Lloyd-Webber of the day with elaborately-staged hit shows, such as Glamorous Night (1935), The Dancing Years (1939) and Perchance to Dream (1945) - eight great musicals in all. He starred in six of these, all in non-singing roles. He composed over 250 songs. His lovely music did much to lift the spirits of his countrymen during the dark days of both World Wars and the bleak periods afterwards.

     The honors of knighthood would most certainly have been accorded to Ivor Novello if it had not been for his unwitting involvement in a scandal in 1944 concerning the unauthorized use of petrol during strict wartime rationing.  An infatuated female fan, hoping to incur favor with her idol, had obtained a car license for Ivor under false pretenses.  Ivor naively accepted the permit  thinking it was perfectly legal.  Eventually, the fraud was discovered by the lady's company and duly reported.  The resulting trial and 1-month prison sentence were a gross miscarriage of justice by a cruel judge intent on making an example of a celebrity.  It was a tragic, humiliating ordeal for Ivor which would rob him of the full glory and honor which he undoubtedly merits (arguably far more than most present-day recipients of knighthood).   Ivor received overwhelming public support and sympathy.  He was given a hero's welcome when he returned to the stage.

     On March 6, 1951 Ivor Novello died of coronary thrombosis in his London flat above the Strand Theatre just 4 hours after performing the lead in his own production, King's Rhapsody. 7000 people attended his funeral, with women outnumbering men 50 to 1. His brilliant life and career, his varied contributions to culture and morale made him one of the most talented and best loved personalities of the century.

     Ivor Novello was not only versatile - he was unique. There has been no one to take his place as the personification of romance. He has been neglected for far too long.

     According to Mr. Nicholas Gaze, Secretary of the Ivor Novello Appreciation Bureau in Gloucester, England, the British Film Institute holds prints of most of the films Ivor made.  If the archives would undertake the restoration and release of Ivor's films for theater revivals and transfer onto video, then perhaps Ivor will finally receive the recognition and appreciation which he so richly deserves.  Classic film lovers and music fans, please urge video and record companies to consider the wonderful cinematic and musical contributions of Britain's best kept secret - the amazing, multi-talented Ivor Novello.
 

Sources:
Peter Noble, Ivor Novello, Man of the Theatre, Falcon Press 1951
W. MacQueen Pope, Ivor Novello, The Story of an Achievement W.H. Allen 1951
Richard Rose, Perchance to Dream, Leslie Frewin 1974
Sandy Wilson, Ivor, Michael Joseph 1975.